# Florence of Arabia

By Christopher Buckley

Profile: https://hahafiction.com/books/florence-of-arabia-14cb9f2f/

State Department official Florence turns to television after a friend suffers at the hands of the royal family of Wasabia. A covert mission sends her to neighboring Matar to make programs that encourage women to challenge the rules imposed on them.

## What makes it funny?

TV Matar’s proposed schedule includes a soap opera whose royals look suspiciously familiar and a sitcom about bumbling religious police. Kirkus also singles out Buckley’s steady supply of puns and his willingness to make a joke about camel gas.

### The comedy at work

Buckley treats daytime television and sitcoms as tools of international intervention. The US officials running the operation face ridicule alongside the rulers and religious authorities Florence wants to undermine.

### Try this if…

A choice for readers interested in political satire about diplomacy and the media, with broad wordplay and bodily jokes.

### Good to know

The comedy accompanies executions, deadly bombings and threats against the television staff. Religion, patriarchal rule and American intervention are central satirical targets.

## What to expect

- Genre: Contemporary & literary · Crime & thriller
- On the shelf: Spy & espionage
- Kind of humor: Dark comedy · Satire · Wordplay
- The atmosphere: Irreverent
- Format: Novel
- Published: 2004

## A few distinguishing details

- Television as a covert political weapon
- A soap opera aimed at a royal family

## Sources & further reading

- Review: [Kirkus review](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/christopher-buckley/florence-of-arabia)
- Publisher: [Publisher](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/20763/florence-of-arabia-by-christopher-buckley)